1) A tool without process doesn’t get you far
Sound and mature(ing) IT Service Management (ITSM) processes are essential for any IT organization and the ServiceNow platform can help with the implementation of those processes. With the ServiceNow ITSM tool being built using the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) framework, it can quickly help many organizations see their processes grow, mature and use Best Practices within their organization’s ITSM arena.
2) Find a balance with notifications
You do not want to spam users. You want to get them the right information at the right time and make it meaningful. A good idea is to look into an opt-out approach and make most “informational” notifications subscribe-able so users have some ability to control what information they want.
3) Access controls need attention
This is a very fluid concept as it depends on the company. The two rules of thumb are:
- Do not assign roles to people directly – group assignments are best practice because they are easier to manage.
- Perform regular maintenance on groups and roles since it’s common for people to move around in the company and, as a result, their access may need to be changed or removed.
4) You need to set up a service catalog before standing up an onboarding process
It is recommended that you have a service catalog setup before onboarding as many of the things needed for onboarding are likely things that people can request ‘one-off’. In addition to the one-off request it will give you a chance to review the process and make any adjustments.
5) Upgrades/patching is now mandatory
It is important to have plans in place to manage the regular upgrade and patching cycles in a ServiceNow environment. With 2 major upgrades a year and a quarterly patching cycle, you will need a process and solution to drive your regression testing and upgrade cycles.
6) The CMDB needs to be properly maintained
It is important that this is looked at on a regular cadence. ServiceNow is 90% process and 10% technology. If the processes you have in place around CMDB/Asset are immature or loosely followed, you will have a CMDB that will become quickly unusable and could result in audit failures.
7) Routine operational maintenance needs to be performed regularly
While a thoroughly modern cloud platform, ServiceNow still requires regular review and maintenance to ensure optimal performance for you and your customers.
8) The knowledge base – self service – reduces incidents
G.I. Joe has been saying it since the 80’s “knowing is half the battle.” I cannot stress how important it is to get the right knowledge to the right people at the right time. This will not only decrease the number of incidents by enabling users but it will also add visibility into company impacting events and help with First Call Resolutions (FCR).
9) Because you can doesn’t mean you should
You have a webpage and you want to make it attractive to your customers but also functional for your support team. Putting too much on a form will only drive users away because it is too complicated and they will find a way around the process you have put in place. If too simple then the support team does not have all the information they need to do their job.
10) User adoption is critical
I hate to repeat myself but once again “knowing is half the battle.” Getting your staffed trained not only on the basic navigation of ServiceNow but also on the process you have defined is greatly beneficial and will go a long way in ensuring tool and process adoption.